Gastric cancer (GC), a disease with a very poor prognosis, is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The poor prognosis of this cancer, due largely to delayed diagnosis, would be greatly improved by identification of biomarkers to stratify risk and accelerate diagnosis. Although few studies have identified genetic and epigenetic alterations to be involved in gastric carcinogenesis, the molecular pathogenesis of this disease remains incompletely understood, and largely unexplored.